New Nissan Z confirmed for August reveal

News surfaced last week that a rise in COVID-19 cases had seen the New York motor show cancelled for a second year, leading to questions around the planned debut of the new 2022 Nissan Z at the event.

This weekend, however, the Japanese company has confirmed it will not delay the big reveal, meaning fans of the iconic Z badge can expect to see the new model revealed on August 17 (18 in Australian time) as scheduled.

“The global reveal of the all-new, next-generation Nissan Z sports car will still be held on Tuesday, August 17, despite the cancellation of the New York International Auto Show,” a Nissan spokesperson told American website CarScoops.

The date is in line with confirmation back in June that the company would unveil the new Z at an event that would run ahead of the New York motor show before then going on display at the show.

For more on the new Z, see our developing story below and visit our Z landing page here.

UPDATE, August 18 2021: The new Nissan Z has now been officially revealed. READ IT HERE.

The story to here

July 3, 2021: In what could only be a "let's leave the cover off and see who spots it" bit of social media manipulation – not that we're complaining – the new Nissan Z has been spied once again.

Caught by Youtuber 'MrFixIt', the new Z – rumoured to be called either 400Z or, more recently, simply the Nissan Z – is wrapped nose-to-tail in confounding camouflage. The images further down in this story reveal more of what we can expect, but it's no secret the production car will be nearly identical to the 'concept' that preceded it.

Check out the video below, and continue scrolling for earlier coverage.

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The story to here

April 7, 2021: Nissan's upcoming new Z car – now expected to be called simply Z rather than the long-rumoured 400Z name – has been spied once again in a trio of leaked images from a warehouse or factory location.

These new photos, posted to the NissanZClub.com community, show the new coupe again in a silver colour, with its Z badges taped over.

We can also see a blurry new look at the upcoming Z car's cabin, shown in a new black-and-blue trim.

Inside and out, it's clear the new Z car will land largely identical to the Z Proto concept that precedes it, but an official unveiling date is still to be confirmed.

Catch up on the rest of the story below.

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March 27: More details of Nissan's 370Z successor have been leaked online, and there are some big surprises.

According to the forum, 400ZClub.com and its member "Houston.Z35", the long-rumoured "400Z" moniker has reportedly been scrapped.

Instead, Nissan will globally name its new sportscar simply as the "Z", apart from the Japanese domestic market, where the fabled "Fairlady Z" namesake is expected to be revived.

The new Z will have a dry weight of 1475 kilograms, and although based on the same chassis as the outgoing 370Z, Nissan has apparently heavily massaged the car's architecture with more aluminium, carbon fibre and bracing used in its construction.

The leaker confirmed the VR30DDTT twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine currently found in the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport would be slotted into the Z's engine bay, with power rated at around 300kW.

Power will be sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission as standard, however, the leaker claims Nissan will not use a rumoured seven-speed dual-clutch transmission or its old Jatco seven-speed automatic transmission found in the Q60 Red Sport, but rather Mercedes-Benz's 9G-Tronic nine-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox.

The leaker added that the Germanic nine-speed auto, which can already be found in Nissan's Titan and Frontier models in North America, will be the gearbox of choice for all future rear-wheel drive Nissan and Infiniti products.

There will be a number of models with different options and trim specs available from launch, although Nissan Australia will most likely cherry-pick certain performance parts and other features to create just one locally available specification.

North American pricing was also leaked, with the base Nissan Z with no options said to cost $34,995 (roughly $45,000 AUD).

We wouldn't be jumping for joy just yet with America's price unveil though – by the time a better-optioned, Aussie-spec Nissan Z arrives on our shores, the price will have most likely swelled past the $60,000 mark.

A Nismo variant of the new Z is also reportedly under development at the performance arm's Omori factory, but the leaker admitted that all he had heard about the performance-focused Z so far is "Brembos" and "Baby GT-R".

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March 23: Pictures have emerged online of what looks to be a production-spec example of Nissan’s hotly-anticipated 370Z replacement.

Rumoured to be called the 400Z, these crystal-clear images and videos, published by @laidoutdc4 on Instagram, show a charcoal grey metallic example of the next Z car.

It also appears to be faithful in design to the already previewed Nissan Z Proto that WhichCar got to spend some time with last year.

The front of the car and its long, muscular bonnet seems to be unchanged, as does the headlight configuration with daytime running lights covering the outer edge of the headlight unit.

What is different for the front of the car is a chrome trim to the top row of the slotted grille, accentuating the design more clearly than before.

The Z car’s sleek flanks look largely unchanged as well, aside from larger, redesigned door handles and the addition of a thin red reflector strip on the side of the rear bumper.

It’s the 400Z’s rear end where the most change appears to have occurred. There’s now a small lip spoiler – in tribute, no doubt, to the 240ZG's black item – and Nissan has also ditched the “Fairlady Z” badge. (A shame! - Ed.)

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Among the leaked photos there’s even a clear picture of a shiny new interior, and perhaps the most interesting thing about this image is the noticeable lack of a manual gearbox.

In its place, we see fairly prominent blackened paddle shifters nestled behind a satisfyingly round and not squared-off steering wheel. The paddles also look to be mounted directly to the steering wheel, as opposed to being mounted on the column.

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Nissan hasn’t confirmed which automatic gearbox will come equipped in the new 400Z, however, Nissan's seven-speed dual-clutch unit is expected.

Other noteworthy items in the cabin are the two large digital displays, a USB-C port and a traditional USB port located in front of the gear selector, and weirdly, what appears to be the car’s traction control button located by itself, on the other side of the steering wheel.

WhichCar has reached out to Nissan Australia for comment on these leaked images and any more details about the 400Z, and we’ll update this story when there’s more information.